Five Friends, the First Year - A Marauder Story
by Emilily2
Summary: A story about five friends and their first year at Hogwarts, they are James, Sirius, Lily, Remus and Peter, who continue to become the most infamous trouble makers Hogwarts has ever see. PG-13 for later chapters. Please Review, thanks!
1. Meetings

Year 1

Author's note: I know this has been done before, and it will be again, but it's just my way of coping for the long wait for the next wait. If anyone reviewing this has any new rumours about when it will come out, include it in the review please, I'm desperate. Thanks!

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in this story that you recognise, just a few of the Professors. That's it, so don't sue me.

Year 1

Chapter 1: Meetings

Three boys sat in a compartment of the Hogwarts Express, listening boredly to a fourth, much older, boy. The first boy, who had messy black hair and vivid blue eyes covered by glasses, fidgeted, whilst listening glumly to the elder boy, a virtual carbon copy of himself. 

"House pride is everything!" the elder boy explained forcefully. "That means you have to be good, James. No more childish tricks, no more leading your friends into trouble." He shot an angry glance at the remaining two boys. "This is big school now."

His little brother, whose mind had obviously drifted, snapped his head around at these words. "David, I didn't fall for that when I was five and I'm not going to fall for it now. It's a load of crap. And I don't "lead" my friends into trouble. They come willingly. That's their problem, not mine." The taller of the two boys sitting next to him nodded his head vehemently. 

"Well don't think I'm going to go easy on you just because you're my brother. I'm Head Boy and I take my duties very seriously." James scowled, having an elder brother as Head Boy was terrible. Especially if you were as likely to get into trouble as he was. "Can you leave us to enjoy our train ride in piece now?" he snapped. "No w that you've finished lecturing us?" David Potter glared at him and stamped out of the compartment, obviously annoyed that his supposedly impressive lecture hadn't had the desired effect. James' two friends sniggered, as James turned to them. 

"Lets plan our first prank, Remie!" he said excitedly. The train hadn't even started moving yet. 

*****************

Meanwhile, a red headed girl stood with her parents in Kings Cross Station, shooting confused glares at platforms 9 and 10.This was where she was meant to be, no doubt about it, it said it right there on her ticket. So where was the damn platform?

She looked at her parents, who looked just as confused as she did. Her brand new owl, Chancery, squawked angrily in her cage. It appeared that the owl had a temper to match her red-headed mistress'. The girl was just about to stamp her foot angrily when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around to find that she was staring into the mischievous face of a boy she had never seen before. He stuck his tongue out at her and said "Hogwarts?"

She stuck her own tongue out, before replying "Yeah. How did you know?"

"Not many Muggles that walk around with owls and huge trunks, is it? Do you need help getting on to the platform?"

She smiled at him. "Yeah, I do. Wait a min…………" she turned to her parents and said heavily: "Well this is it. Do you wanna say goodbye here or on the platform?"

"Now darling, 'Nia's waiting in the car." As her parents hugged and kissed her, smoothing her hair, telling her she was bound to be a success, the girl thought about her elder sister.

Petunia had refused to talk to her since she had found out she was a witch. Nia was terribly jealous, and covered it by pronouncing her sister a freak. She sighed. She really had loved her sister. 

When her parents had hugged her for the last time, the girl turned back to the boy. "So where is it?" she asked curiously. "Who knows?" he smiled back mysteriously, his black eyes twinkling. "Take my hand and do what I do." All her luggage, as well as his, had disappeared. Seeing her look, he added, "My Dad took it."

As he smiled at her once again, she had the strangest feeling that she trusted him. He took her hand, pulling her at a run straight towards platforms 9 and 10. She stifled a scream, sure they were going to crash. 

They didn't. Instead they fell out underneath a sign saying Platform 9 ¾, Hogwarts Express. Right in front of them was a huge scarlet steam engine. "Thank you," she smiled gratefully at the boy, who bowed low in return. "Glad to be of service, m'lady!" Dropping the act, he said, "I'm Sirius Black, I'm a first year." 

"I'm Lily Evans. Shall we find a compartment?"

************************

James sat happily in his compartment, planning mischief with his friend, a shy looking boy with light brown hair and fearful eyes. His other friend, a pudgy, round-faced boy, sat sleepily watching the scene out of the windows of howling parents saying farewell and others looking exultant to see the children go. All was calm until-

"JAMSIE-BOY! Get out of here. We want this carriage!" It was his brother's rather stupid friend, Henry, blond haired and red faced, looking as if he was about to explode. "Go on," he continued, slightly calmer "Your brother'll be here in a minute and then you'll be in trouble." Of this, James had no doubt. He didn't exactly have the best relationship with David. He pulled down his travel bag and walked out of the compartment, but not before kicking Henry in the back of the leg. Again his friends laughed quietly, before following him out. 

The three boys roamed up and down the corridor looking for an empty compartment, before realising there weren't any. So they knocked on the door of the emptiest one, then burst in uninvited.

"I am the ever wondrous James Potter!" James cried, throwing his arms out wide. 

"And I am the amazing Remus Lupin!" his friend called clearly, getting really into the act. The pudgy boy just made a bored face. 

Two people sat, astonished, in front of them. The boy closed his mouth, then got up and bowed deeply before them. "Oh great ones," he intoned flatly, "how honoured I am that you grace us with your presence!" Lily decided that she too would join in the joke, and curtsied. "I am in concurrence, my Lords, but I am in too much awe to speak in front of you." She spoiled this by sticking her tongue out.

James Potter looked delighted. "James," he said, holding out his hand. Sirius took it. 

"Sirius Black."

"Not _the _Blacks!" James asked wretchedly. "As in Esmerelda?" Behind him, Remus looked horrified. 

"My fame spreads!" Sirius said triumphantly.

"No, you don't understand. My brother goes out with your sister!" They stared at each other, identical looks of horror on both faces. 

James snapped out of it first. "And you are……….."He turned his vivid blue eyes to the girl.

"Lily Evans," she replied, taking his outstretched hand. To her surprise he kissed it and she laughed. "Why didn't you do that to Sirius?"

"Because Sirius is prettier than you and I wanted to make him jealous!" James returned quickly. They all laughed. 

"Hey, I'm Remus, and this is Peter Pettigrew," the sandy haired boy said, stepping forward, his hand extended. Lily looked at him sceptically. "I won't, I promise," he smiled reassuringly, and they shook hands. 

Their first meeting over, the five sat sown and soon discovered they had many things in common. As the train started moving slowly towards their destination, they began to talk more freely. Sirius and Remus discovered a shared love of wizard chess, while James and Lily discussed lessons and pranks and Peter slept peacefully in a corner. Almost before they knew it the train had pulled in to Hogsmeade Station.

Each of them jumped up. Not a single one of them had changed into their wizard's robes, and they hurriedly pulled them on over their Muggle clothes. Jumping out on to the platform they saw that it was deserted, and James swore, while Peter's lip trembled.

"Oh stop whining!" Remus snapped at him, looking worried. A porter came on to the platform and shouted bad temperedly at them: "Oi! You! Get out of here!" Lily smirked at the boys before turning to the man, her lip now trembling and her eyes wide with fear. "But-but p-please, sir, we-we don't know where to go! We're only fi-fi-first years and we're l-lost!" 

The man visibly softened. "Over there by the lake, quickly now," he shooed them along. Lily, James, Sirius and Remus ran off quickly, Peter trying to keep up. 

They ran down a road, turned a corner and collided with a boat. In the distance they could just make out the lanterns from a fleet of other boats. This boat didn't look big enough for the five of them. 

"In we get!" cried James and Sirius. 

"I'm not sure it's big enough," Remus said slowly. 

"We could always leave Lily behind," Sirius suggested with a wicked grin. At that Lily leapt into boat, and Peter, scared of being left behind, followed more slowly. "Come on, Re," James cajoled, "We're already late!" Remus threw aside his doubts and jumped in, causing the boat to sink almost to water level. It moved off unaided, carrying them in the direction of the other boats. 

Lily, James and Sirius thought the whole trip was a great adventure. Peter was curled up into ball, eyes closed, obviously frightened of boats. Remus kept glancing at the sides of the boat, which were so low the water was almost over the side.

When they reached the magnificent Hogwarts Castle, there was no sign of the other boats or their occupants. The five moved towards the huge doors and pushed them open. Stepping into the entrance hall, they barely glanced around before moving towards the door where a huge noise was coming from, not in the least bit nervous anymore. They would now be the most famous people at Hogwarts. They pushed the door open and entered.


	2. The Sorting

Chapter 2: The Sorting

Chapter 2: The Sorting

As they looked in, nearly 300 people looked back at them, staring in disbelief. A tall severe looking figure rushed towards them. "What do you think you are doing!" it bellowed. Looking closely they could see it was a female professor. The rest of the school continued to stare, and James replied clearly: "We were a bit late getting off the train." Sniggers filled the room, as four of the five gazed innocently at the woman and Peter whimpered. "You've missed the Sorting!" the woman shrieked. James and Sirius could see their brother and sister behind the woman, both shaking their fists threateningly. 

A small teacher rushed out of the hall, while the oddest-looking man Lily had ever seen approached them. He had blue eyes, a crooked nose, long white hair and an even longer beard, and he was wearing bright green robes. He grinned conspiratorially at them. "I am Headmaster Dumbledore," he said.

"Very pleased to meet you!" they interjected. 

"And this is Professor McGonagall." He dropped his voice to a whisper. "Minnie is very organised, and you've upset her plans. I apologise for her.

"What happened was obviously an accident, no-ones fault. So lets get you Sorted so you can eat." The tiny man had rushed back in again, with a stool and an extremely patched Hat. He unfurled a piece of parchment and intoned solemnly: "Black, Sirius."

Sirius approached the hat jauntily, stuck his tongue out at his sister and put the hat on."Sirius Black," the hat said angrily, "You're late. I'd just thought of some lyrics for next years song."

"Song?" thought Sirius

The hat chose to ignore that.

"Too naughty for Ravenclaw," it was muttering, "too clever for Hufflepuff. You have ties to Slytherin, but you're so brave, I think GRFFINDOR!" Sirius jumped as the hat roared the last word. He got up and approached that table.

"Evans, Lily," the Professor called. As Lily pulled the hat on she could see Sirius arguing with his sister. "Miss Evans," the hat said grumpily, "I think I'll put you Slytherin." At her terrified mental howl it chuckled. "Joking Lily. You're certainly clever enough for Ravenclaw, but your courage and trickery outweigh that. GRYFFINDOR!" it yelled. "Thanks!" Lily thought.

"Lupin, Remus."

Remus approached the hat with trepidation. Would it know his secret? His suspicion was confirmed as the hat said "Aaahhh. You're a werewolf. Congratulations."

"What!" he thought incredulously.

"Yes it takes a lot of courage to live a normal life under a burden like that. It can only be GRYFFINDOR." Remus could have jumped for joy; he would be with his friends.

Pettigrew, Peter."

"Peter…hmmmmmm…very difficult," the hat said, "You are not very academic, nor loyal, but I don't think you would fit into Slytherin either. You must face what is to come with courage, and make it GRYFFINDOR!"

"Potter, James."

James skipped happily over to the hat. All his friends were in Gryffindor. "James Potter," the hat whispered in his ear, "very brave, no doubt about you, join your family in GRYFFINDOR!" That was a foregone conclusion. James wasn't just like his mischievous father in looks only, as his harassed Grandmother had been heard to howl. He ran of to join the others, who were already stuffing themselves with food.

"Wicked!" Lily yelled.

"The food's good, isn't it?" replied Sirius.

"No, I meant us all being in the same house!"

"That's definitely good," Remus agreed. James had piled his plate with food, but he had little time to enjoy it, as he saw Davis approaching. Snatching up his plate, he ducked under the table, followed by Remus. The two boys crawled up to the other end and reappeared, stuffing their mouths. Lily and Sirius blinked, then continued eating. 

David Potter approached them. "Where's my brother?" he said, looking around distractedly. "I saw him a minute ago."

"You have a brother?" Sirius asked innocently, while Lily smiled charmingly up at him. "Poor thing," Sirius added sweetly. David glared. 

"Peter!" he snapped. "Where's James?" Peter looked like he was going to cry again. David took a deep breath, then walked out of the hall with Sirius' sister. 

By the time the five had finished eating, the hall was empty. "Where do we go now?" Lily wondered. They were all full, sleepy and slow. "Lets ask Professor Dumbledore!" James suggested. They ran up to him as he was about to leave and said "Professor, where do we go now?"

He smiled down at them. "Did no one wait for you?" When they shook their heads, he continued, "Come then, and I will show you to Gryffindor tower."

They followed him as he led them through corridors and up stairs, and grinned happily as he nimbly jumped trick stairs and avoided angry suits of armour. It was only when they reached a portrait of a very fat lady that he stopped.

"Professor Dumbledore," smiled the lady as Lily nearly jumped out of her skin. 

"My dear fat lady," the headmaster began, "could you possibly let me in, even though I'm afraid I don't have the password?"

"Certainly not, Professor!" the lady looked horrified. "Only the heads of house to be allowed in. I couldn't possibly allow it!"

"My dear fat lady," Dumbledore began again.

"No." she said flatly.

"But the poor children………."

"NO!" 

By now the 'poor children' were laughing hysterically. Dumbledore looked annoyed. "Stubborn bi…………" he muttered.

"Sorry, Professor?" Sirius asked.

"You'll just have to camp out here until someone lets you in," the Headmaster explained. The five groaned. Luckily, at that very moment, Esmerelda Black stuck her head out from behind the fat lady, who had swung forward. 

"Siri-poo!" she cooed, "There you are!" Sirius flushed, whilst the others, Dumbledore included, sniggered. 

"Quickly now," Dumbledore herded them in. "Bed time."

Inside the Gryffindor common room, Esmerelda, a pretty sixth year, didn't look so pleased to see Sirius. "Up there!" she snapped at the boys, "and straight to bed."

The boys went up the indicted staircase and into a room marked 'First Years'. Five four-poster beds were in there, one already taken. The four boys collapsed onto the beds and fell asleep, fully clothed.

Esmerelda led Lily up the other staircase. "There." She pointed at a door, before disappearing up the next set of stairs. Lily opened the door and entered a circular room, complete with four staring faces.

"Who are you?"

"Who are those boys?"

"Why were you late?"

"Do you like any of them?" the faces asked. 

At the last question Lily scoffed. "No!" She pulled off her clothes and put on her pyjamas, muttered "Tomorrow" and fell onto her bed. She was soon deeply asleep. 


	3. Lessons

Chapter 3: Lessons

Chapter 3: Lessons

Lessons began promptly the next day, as the five found out when they were given their timetables at breakfast. Having eaten everything they could and, in the case of James and Sirius, stolen a few breakfasts while people weren't looking, they set off for History of Magic. Try as they might, (and they did, they wanted to learn a lot of magic very quickly), they could not stay awake. Their teacher, a ghost, had obviously never heard of interactive learning, as he droned on and on. Peter was the first to go, his head hitting the desk with a thud the teacher didn't register, as he was still talking about the Ban on Flying Carpets. Remus and James came to a mutual agreement, leant on each other and slept away, whilst Sirius and Lily's eyelids closed within seconds of each other's. They would have had a nice nap, too if Remus' snores hadn't been so loud that Binns could no longer hear his own voice. This earned them their first detention. 

Second lesson was charms, which passed with out event, except for Lily managing the Charm before the Professor had even told the to begin. Flitwick, the tiny teacher they had seen the night before, was delighted, and gave her 20 house points. 

Defence Against the Dark Arts was not a good lesson. The professor seemed to take an especial dislike to them as they walked through the door (admittedly they were late). 

"10 points from Gryffindor." He snapped. 

"But Professor Malfoy!" five voices exclaimed. "Peeves attacked us!" Peeves, the school poltergeist, was a terror. 

"Good," the Professor smirked. 

They learned nothing in that lesson, as they spent the entire time glaring at Professor Malfoy. This seemed to unnerve him, and he got more and more erratic as the lesson went on, finally telling them that Phoenix's were a type of pixie, so they doubted that what he was telling them was true anyway. 

Next came lunch, then transfiguration, which they had with Professor McGonagall. She got annoyed when they greeted her as Minnie, and seemed on the point of taking house points from them when they sniggered through her "Transfiguration is the most dangerous of the magical arts" speech. However, her attitude changed completely when James and Sirius' matchsticks became pretty silver and gold patterned needles. She gave them 15 house points each, but luckily missed Lily aiming the needles at the girls from her dormitory with the flying charm she had already picked up. 

Last lesson of the day was potions. All five were excited at the thought of brewing a potion to get revenge on Professor Malfoy. They reached the dark dungeon in high spirits, but quietened down on their entrance. The dungeon was dark, cold, damp and slimy looking and contained several ugly potions ingredients. Expecting an evil, foul looking teacher to go with this, they were surprised to be confronted with the beaming face of Professor Headly, a witch with long blonde hair, brown eyes and a graceful figure. The jaws of all four boys dropped and Lily punched Remus, who was unfortunate enough to be nearest to her. As the rest of the class filed in behind them, a tall greasy haired boy stopped in front of Sirius and they realised they must be having these lessons with the Slytherins. 

"Cousin Sirius," the boy said silkily, inclining his head. 

"Severus," Sirius replied curtly, turning his back on the boy, who reached out and spun Sirius back. 

"Sirius, everyone makes mistakes when they start school; when they're young." The boy smiled, looking as if it was painful. "You might be hanging around with this trash now, but that can change." Sirius looked furious. "You can be my friend, it's for the best in the end." Sirius turned around again, but the boy carried on. "I know the family said it was our side that made the wrong choice, that we are in the wrong, but…"

He was cut off as Sirius' fist connected with his face. "Don't ever talk to me about being like you!" Sirius hissed at Severus, who was now on the floor. "The thought makes me sick." James whistled. 

Severus hissed back, not in the least worried. "If you're going to consort with Mudbloods and Mudblood-lovers, then you'll get what's coming to you!" At those words both James and Remus had started forward, but any action they might have taken was cut short by Professor Headly. 

"Fighting," she said quietly. "On your first day! Well, it's obvious who's to blame here. 30 points from Gryffindor, and detentions for you five." The started to complain at the unfairness of this, but stopped when she threatened to make it thirty points and an extra detention each. 

They sat through her introduction to potions glaring at her, but it didn't seem to work. "I, as you already know, am Professor Headley, and I'm head of Slytherin house." She flashed a smile at her students. "This does not mean I will be favouring you over the others." At this, Lily developed a hacking cough that drowned out her next words. "… And I hope you will continue to show the good work your house is capable of. As for the Gryffindor's," she added softly, menacingly, "I hope that you will prove to be better than the rest of your house, who are the worst potion brewers I have ever seen."

"Because you teach them!" James whispered.

"Pardon, Mr Potter?" 

"I didn't say anything!" James exclaimed, looking hurt. The professor looked sceptical, but let it pass. She then gave them a potion to mix, and they quickly paired up, leaving Peter to work with the fifth Gryffindor boy, Frank Longbottom. 

Five minutes later, Sirius and Lily looked very pleased with themselves. They had finished their potion. Professor Headley came over and looked in. "Good," she said gruffly, before crossing over to Severus Snape's cauldron. "Excellent Mr Snape, just brilliant! I don't think I've ever had first years finish this quickly before! 20 points to Slytherin!"

"We finished first!" said Lily angrily. 

"The claws are out!" Sirius joked, and slapped him playfully. 

"Mr Black, Miss Evans, keep your hormones under control!" Headley snapped, while the Slytherin's snickered. 

"Why doesn't she just take a long walk off a very short pier!" Lily huffed. "Everyone would be so much happier!"

*****************************

At dinner that night they discussed their house points. "We're still 10 points up!" James exclaimed for the fifth time. "Even after Headley took 30 points off us!" Lily looked confused; she was not good at maths. 

"But we're two detentions down." Remus said gloomily. 

"Yes, well, lets not think about it," Lily said. "What have we got tomorrow?"

"Defence, Herbology, History, Charms, then," Sirius' face lit up, "Flying!"

"With the Hufflepuffs," James added. "The teacher'll spend the whole lesson trying catch them!"

"Can you guys fly?" Sirius asked. "I had to, to get away from Esme." 

"Ditto," said James. 

The others shook their heads. "This should be fun!" said Sirius, wearing his evil grin. Peter buried his head in his hands. 


	4. Flying

Chapter 4: Flying

Chapter 4: Flying

Lily woke up the next morning with a feeling of great excitement. Flying was the thing she had been looking forward to most. Forget cursing Petunia, she wanted to fly. It was even better than cursing Snape, their new-found enemy.She bounded out of bed and washed and dressed before looking at the time. It was only 6 o'clock. Never mind. But why should she be awake and not the boys? With an evil grin she ran up the stairs to their dormitory. 

"WAKE UP! WAKE UP! RISE AND SHINE!" she yelled as loudly as possible. "IT'S A LOVELY MORNING!" It was, but Lily had not even bothered to look out of the window to see. 

Frank Longbottom, in the nearest bed, woke with a start, and dug his head under the covers when he saw Lily, muttering "I f I didn't see it I'm not in trouble." Remus, always an early riser, sat up in bed, but Peter and Sirius just rolled over and James didn't even move. 

"Lily," said Remus seriously. "You are not supposed to be in here."

"So what?"

"And it is," Remus gave a small groan, "five past 6. You might just wake these two up, but never James. He's slept through every argument his family have ever had, when I can hear them across the street."

"He just hasn't met me yet," Lily smiled sweetly. "As for the other two, I have one word: PRANK!"

Sirius sat straight upright in bed, as Remus fell off his laughing. Peter rubbed his eyes sleepily and got out of bed, crashing into the wall. "OW!" he yelped. 

"Now for James," Lily said before running out of the room. All three awake boys hid under their beds, muttering what Frank had said five minutes earlier. 

Lily darted back into the room, carrying a large bucket of water. "1…2…3!" Triumphantly she tipped the whole lot over James. 

"AGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" James' yell was enough to wake the entire country. "Remus you- Lily! I'll KILL you!" He jumped out of bed, just as Lily shot under Sirius'. 

Seconds later, James' brother, followed by several other angry boys, strode into the room. David did not look amused. "What are you doing!" he bellowed. 

"Nightmare." James said quietly. "Sorry. But shouting like that isn't making it better, is it?"

David flushed, and tried to hit James, who ducked, grinning. David decided his dignity was best kept by stopping then, so he stalked out of the room, followed by the others. Sirius, Remus and Peter reappeared, shaking with laughter at the dripping James and irate David. 

"Where's Lily?" James demanded angrily. 

"Did I hear someone say 'prank'?" Sirius asked brightly. 

"What?A Prank?" James was completely distracted. 

"Yeah," said Lily, coming out. "What about your brother and Siri's sister?"

The faces of all the boys lit up. "What?" James and Sirius asked eagerly. 

"Well… I found this colour changing spell," Lily giggled. 

"Cool!" four voices agreed.

**************************

Lily had activated the spell as soon as David and Esmerelda walked into the Great Hall together. David's black hair and brown eyes went suddenly pink at the same time as Esmerelda's skin turned green. Turning to look at each other, both shrieked and ran out of the hall, which burst into laughter. 

Two boys approached the five friends. "Wasn't that just excellent, little bro?" he fair one said to James. "Wish I knew who did it!"

"Well…" James said mysteriously. Both boys leaned closer. "It was us!" The two boys stared in shock. Then they laughed. "And your friends are?" James brother said.

"Lily, Sirius, this is Luke. He's slightly better than David." Luke cuffed him round the head, before smiling charmingly at Lily. "This is…" Luke began, before being cut off by Sirius.

"I know who that is. My darling older brother Orion, everyone." The boy with Luke nodded. 

"Orion Black."

The two elder boys moved off, leaving the others to enjoy their breakfast. 

****************************

Never had a day seemed to go more slowly. Defence Against the Dark Arts and Herbology crawled by, they were too excited to sleep through History of Magic and suddenly Professor Flitwick didn't seem so easy going in Charms. The five hours that had passed since breakfast seemed to take five days. Finally, though, it was time for their flying lesson and they made their way to the Quidditch pitch. 

When Lily had revealed she didn't know what Quidditch was, they had all begun to explain at once.

"It's the best sport in the world!" Peter shouted enthusiastically.

"There's seven players, right…" Remus was saying.

"Being a beater must be so much fun, getting to whack things at everyone!" Sirius explained. 

"The seekers are the most important!" James was jumping up and down. ""Imagine: 150 points!"

Naturally this just made Lily even more confused. 

"SHUT UP!" she yelled suddenly, startling the four. "One of you explain, just one of you."

So James spent the next ten minutes explaining the complex rules of Quidditch, causing them to be late. 

"There you are." The Professor said, looking distracted. "Go and stand by a broom." They went to the five remaining brooms. "Put your hand over the broom," the teacher told the class, "And say 'Up'."

"UP!" the class yelled. Most of the brooms stayed still. James', Sirius', Remus' and Lily's, to her surprise, had jumped into their hands."Right, pick them up," the teacher instructed the rest of the class, "Then mount them like this." She went along correcting everybody. "Now, when I say so, rise up a few feet by pointing the broom upwards, then come back. 3… 2… 1… NOW!"

Several of the Hufflepuffs shot into the air and started drifting towards the school. The Professor jumped on her broom and followed. Peter and Remus looked glad to have reached the ground again, but James said, "Come on Sirius, you're not too scared are you?", before shooting off expertly. Seconds alter Sirius had shot off, followed by a determined Lily, who wobbled a bit. 

"Wow, Lily!" Sirius called as they swooped over a tree. 

"That's really brave!" added James. Soon all three off them were happily doing loop-the-loops and hanging upside down, accompanied by loud shrieks from below. They didn't notice Madam Hooch return.

"POTTER! BLACK! EVANS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Her face had gone bright red and her eyes were bulging. 

"It's quite alright, Professor, we can fly!" Lily proved her words to be true by diving to the ground and stopping right in front of her. James and Sirius joined them. 

"Detention! Two detentions! I cannot believe you were that irresponsible!" The three grinned and bowed. "Flying lesson is over for today!" Madam Hooch snapped. 

As they trudged happily back to the castle, wondering what their detentions would be, Sirius noticed that James had a faraway look on his face. "Who's the lucky lady, Jamsie?" he joked.

"Oh, you," James answered distractedly. They all took a step backwards. 

"Wait a min, James, do you realise what you just said?" Remus asked.

"Oh, sorry," James replied, still looking as if he was dreaming. 

"I think its Lily!" Sirius said in a loud stage whisper. Both snapped around at that and suddenly his hair was orange and his skin red. "Sorry, sorry," he said quickly, "didn't realise you were so touchy. Take it, puh-lease?" He looked so innocent that, against their better judgement, the two removed their spells. 

"Come on or we'll be late for dinner!" Sirius exclaimed, running towards the castle. 

"Siri, it's two hours 'til dinner!" Lily cried, running after him. 

"Lets find the kitchen then!"

*************************

Two hours later they were exhausted. It seemed they had raced around the whole castle, but there were no kitchens in sight. Peter had given up more than an hour ago and the others were really hungry. They went to the dining hall and began to eat. They ate and ate and ate. They ate until they couldn't eat another bite. Unfortunately, they couldn't move either and they had to virtually crawl the whole way back to Gryffindor tower, Peter skipping happily ahead of them. 

"If I wasn't so full I'd bloody kill him!" Remus moaned. 

"If I wasn't so bloody full he'd already be dead!" James muttered.

"If I wasn't so bloody full you'd all be dead!" Sirius groaned.

"I'm to full to speak!" whispered Lily. Too full to do anything active, they spent the evening playing wizard chess and fell asleep the minute they got into bed. 


	5. Hallowe'en

Chapter Five: Hallowe'en

Chapter Five: Hallowe'en

The two months until Hallowe'en passed surprisingly fast. Lessons were good, as in Charms and Transfiguration, or bad, as in Defence Against the Dark Arts and Potions, or just indifferent, as like Herbology.Apart from their first four detentions, which passed off well, they had collected around thirty more each. Professor McGonagall had asked if they were going for a new record, before telling them that, as the teachers were out of ideas for new detentions, any they got now would be spent acting as guinea pigs for the older students to try their spells on. This just made them happier, to McGonagall's disgust, because it meant they could learn lots of new spells. 

In just two months the five had become inseparable friends. They were always seen together, laughing, planning mischief, arguing with the teachers, or in the case of James and Lily, with each other. These two were rarely seen without each other, but were constantly playing tricks on each other. James had turned Lily's duvet into maggots to get her back for waking him up, so Lily enchanted his pillow to punch him until he woke up, then he hung a bucket full of ice water above her bed, she turned his hair long, blonde and curly for a week and so it continued. Of course they played pranks on other people too; David and Esmerelda were good targets, but the best was Snape. They had enchanted him to talk in 'Ye Olde English' for a week, to the disgust of the teachers. 

On Hallowe'en itself, most of the school disappeared to Hogsmeade for the day, leaving the first and second years very bored. They sat in the common room all morning, bickering, playing exploding snap and throwing Dungbombs out of the window at Filch, the caretaker. 

"Hey, I know what we can do!" James said suddenly. 

"Oooh goodie! Jamsie-poo knows! All is saved!" Lily said cattily. She shrieked as James jumped of his chair and started tickling her, then laughed even more as Sirius started tickling him. Pulling herself up, she tickled Remus, who yelled and laughed and they forgot all about James' idea. 

Twenty minutes later, when they had calmed down enough, Peter asked, "What was your idea?" James had to think for a minute before beckoning them closer. "My dad told me that this place is riddled with secret passages, even though he never found any. He even said some lead to Hogsmeade!"

"Cool!" Sirius exploded, jumping up, "What are we waiting for?" The five ran out of the room.

They roamed the halls, looking behind pictures, tapping panels and even asking the ghosts. After half an hour of fruitless searching, Lily and James had begun to argue, Sirius and Remus were play fighting, and Peter was lethargically pulling back paintings. He saw a particularly ugly painting of a small girl surrounded by wild animals and tried to pull it back. It resisted, so he pulled harder. The little girl got up and spoke in a sugary voice: "I have no master now, and no password. If you can answer my question, you can be my master and set my password."

Peter stared, before shrieking "OY! You guys! Come here!". His four fighting friends came hurriedly, shushing him. "What?" they asked quietly. 

"She," Peter indicated the girl, "Says that if we can answer the question we can be her masters, set the password and get in!"

"Is she having us on?" James asked sceptically. 

"I don't think so," Peter answered.

"Only one way to find out!" Remus said cheerfully. "What's your question?" he asked the girl. 

"I am beautiful,

I am mild,

I sing a pretty song,

Yet I drive a man wild! 

What am I?"

They all thought hard, and any passing Professor would have been surprised to see the five naughtiest children in Hogwarts concentrating this much. Eventually Remus let out a yell that made Sirius fall over. "I've got it!" he shouted triumphantly. 

"What?" they cried impatiently. 

Remus turned to the girl. "The answer is," he drew breath, "a Fwooper!" 

"You are correct," she acknowledged. "You are now my masters. What is the password to be?"

"Chelsea." Said Lily firmly. The boys stared at her. "They're a Muggle football team! It's safe!" 

"Let us in now! Please!" James begged the girl. The picture swung forward, and five faces peered eagerly through. 


	6. The Room

Chapter 6: The Room

Chapter 6: The Room

They were not disappointed. They stared into a large room that obviously hadn't been used for many years. Checking to see that no one was around, they climbed in, giggling at their own luck. 

The room was perfect for them. It had five large beds, several sofas, a fireplace, bookshelves complete with old books, ("My GOD!" Sirius exclaimed. "These should be in the restricted section!"), and games in a corner: wizard chess, gobstones, a very funny looking type of ball and, to their delight, a full Quidditch set and five brooms. When James uncovered these the others rushed over to pick them up, but they were so old that each broom crumbled when it was touched. "Shit!" Lily swore. 

"They were probably so old they would have been uncomfortable anyway," Remus consoled her. 

"And we've still got this place!" Remus added. Her face brightened at once. 

"What are those books, Siri?" she asked. 

"Most Potente Potions, that's for me, Horrendously Horrible Charms, you can have that, Lil, How to Defeat the Darkest of the Black Arts, here you go, Re, A History of Magic in Europe, boring," he threw it away, "and, oh, look, Advanced Transfiguration for Jamsie and loads of other stuff I can't read!" 

"Wow!" they all said together. They could not believe they had found this room. It would act as their sanctuary when they were sad, a place to plan jokes or just to have peace. 

"Listen. This is our place, right?" Lily said suddenly. "No one else comes here ever. Don't any of you show anyone its here." They nodded agreement, then James put his hand out. 

"To privacy," he said, as four hands piled on top of his.They were all uncharacteristically quiet for a while. 

"We were supposed to be looking for secret passageways, you know," Lily said eventually, breaking the silence. 

"Maybe we should split up?" Sirius suggested. "I'll go with Remus and Peter and Jamie and Lil can go in the other direction." He smiled slightly at Remus. 

"Come on then," Lily snapped. She and James climbed out from behind the picture, already arguing. 

"No, James, we've already been down there. This way."

"Why!"

"Because."

The voices faded away. "Are you sure that was a good idea, Siri?"

"No, but it sure is funny!" The three laughed, before turning off from the route James and Lily had taken, both parties leaving a wake of crooked pictures and slightly moved statues. 

It didn't take Lily and James long to find something suspicious: a statue that just would not move, no matter how hard they tried. "What is with this thing?" James grunted.

"Maybe it's an entrance!" Lily scoffed.

"Maybe I am," a voice agreed. Both looked around for Peeves or one of the other ghosts. "It's me. The statue." The voice was cracked and high pitched; and they instinctively moved closer to each other. When the statue, which was of an ugly old hag, started talking again, Lily grabbed James' hand. The solid stone lips were moving!

"I am the entrance to a tunnel. But to know where it goes you'll have to trust me." The hag cackled to herself. 

Neither Lily nor James were lacking in courage. "We will." They said together. 

"Right. I'll whisper the password to you and you climb into me. Have fun!" she cackled madly again. They leaned closer to her. "Dissendium," she whispered. 

"Dissendium," they repeated. The humped back of the hag screeched open and James climbed inside, quickly followed by Lily. They fell down a muddy chute and landed on top of each other at the bottom. Lily giggled, but stopped when she heard the sound of the hag's hump closing far above them. 

"Oh crap!" they said in unison. Without another word they started walking down the tunnel. 

*******************************

Sirius, Remus and Peter were not having as much luck, (if you can count possibly being trapped in an underground tunnel luck). They had found nothing. "This is POINTLESS!" Sirius shouted, banging angrily on a wall. To their utter shock an entire portion of the wall opposite swung open."Oh." Said Remus, speechless. 

"How lucky was that!" Sirius whooped, rushing over. 

"Don't you think it might have booby traps?" Peter spoke up; "like in those adventure movies?" the other two stared blankly at him. Sirius stepped into the gap. "I'm going," he said, "So is Remus. If you don't want to go you can stay here."

"I do wanna go!" Peter whined. 

"Well shut up then!" Peter stepped into the hole and the wall shut behind them. 

"Crap," they all said. 

The tunnel led them behind several rooms they recognised: McGonagall's office, which they knew _very_ well, the charms classroom, and finally, five floors down, Headley's office. All the walls had peepholes and they could see everything that was going on. "This is amazing!" Remus whispered to Sirius. 

"Come on," Sirius whispered back, tugging him along, "I wanna see where this goes."

The tunnel took so many twists and turns that they lost all sense of direction, but they did realise they had left the school. Peter tagged along behind his two friends, worried that it might turn out to be some kind of magical, never-ending tunnel. 

They eventually reached what appeared to be a solid wall of rock ending the tunnel and their hearts sank. They stared at it for at least five minutes before Remus realised that they could go around it to get out. They emerged onto a hill above what was definitely Hogsmeade Village. 

"WOHOOOOOOOOO!" they yelled, dancing around as they raced to the village. 

"Got any money, Re?" Sirius asked while they were waiting for Peter to catch up. 

"A little." 

Unfortunately, the first shop they saw was Honeydukes. Curious, they went in, and their jaws dropped. Within minutes they had spent all of their money buying as many different types of sweets as possible: Fizzing Whizzbees, Bertie Bott's, Chocolate Frogs, Droobles Best Blowing Gum and even a few Cockroach Clusters for Lily and James. It wasn't until they got outside that they realised that nearly all the Hogwarts students had gone and it was getting dark. "We'd better get back or we'll be late!" Remus said. They set off back to the tunnel entrance. 

By the unhappiest of coincidences, as they had walked out of Honeydukes, a tired James and Lily had just walked in. Their tunnel had taken much longer, due to James spraining his ankle near the start. But when they had snuck into Honeydukes through a trap door, their pale faces lit up. James cursed that he only had a few Knuts, while Lily congratulated herself on the Galleon in her pocket. They bought a few of everything, happily agreeing for once, and got some blood-flavoured lollys for their friends.

When they had finally come to their senses they saw only two other students remained in the shop. "Shit!" Lily swore, "Quick, while they're not looking!" she hissed at James. They darted behind the counter, down the stairs, through the trap door, and into the passage, before collapsing with laughter. 

"We'd better get back or we'll miss the feast!" James said after a while. He helped up Lily, who was still weak from laughing and they started walking. "We were supposed to meet the others at 5:30," Lily said, "and it's 6:30 now. What'll they think we've been up to?" 

James grimaced, then said, "But what'll they say when they find out we've been to Hogsmeade?" 

Lily grinned. "They'll want to leave straight away!"

"No they won't, they'll be too hungry."

"Yes they will!"

"No they won't!"

"Yes they will!"

They carried on bickering the whole way home.

**********************************

By the time they got back the feast was over. Luckily, Peter and Remus had saved them some food. (Originally Sirius had but then he had eaten it.) "Ooooooooooh where have Jamsie-poo and Lilykins been all this time?" Sirius asked around a mouthful of bread. The two didn't rise to the bait. They just grinned with grins identical to the ones Sirius, Remus and Peter were wearing. The grins of someone with a huge secret. 

"We've been to Hogsmeade!" all five exclaimed at once.

"What!" James and Sirius asked.

"When?" Lily and Sirius said.

"How!" Peter squeaked. 

"We found a tunnel," James said, "Did you?"

"Yeah," Remus answered. "We bought you some sweets!"

"We got you some too!" Lily said happily. "We ate ours on the way here." James looked at her with admiration for this blatant lie.

Both groups handed each other the 'sweets' they had bought. At almost exactly the same time they put the 'sweets' into their mouths. And at exactly the same time they all spat them out again, to the disgust of the common room. 

"Learn some manners!" an anonymous voice shouted. 

"Piss off!" they replied with one voice.


	7. Rule Breaking

Chapter 6: Rule Breaking

Chapter 7: Rule Breaking

James was bored. All five friends had decided to stay at Hogwarts over Christmas and he was watching Remus and Sirius try to teach Lily how to play wizard chess. It had been funny the first, second, third, etc times, but now it was just getting silly. She just could not understand the game. 

It was Christmas Eve and the presents for his friends were sitting neatly wrapped under his bed. Amazingly he had done all his homework and he was bored. It was late afternoon and he had the prospect of another boring evening ahead of him. What could he do to liven things up a bit? He thought hard, and then it hit him. Something that had been lying unused in his trunk for long enough. 

The idea was enough to get him through the evening, and anyway, watching Sirius singe himself playing exploding snap was always fun. He said nothing of his plan to the others, and they went to bed as usual. Just before one o'clock he woke his friends up. "I've got an idea. Who's going to get Lily?" They all shuddered. They girls in Lily's dormitory were horrible. "Remus had better go," Sirius said, "They're less likely to scream if they see him." 

Resigned to his terrible fate, Remus set off to get Lily, and when they two came back, Lily looking sleepy and grumpy, James pulled something out of his trunk with a flourish.

"A Nimbus 1000!" Sirius cried, dropping to his knees in front of it. 

"A broom, Jamsie?" Lily asked, her eyes twinkling. 

"We're going to the Quidditch pitch," James explained. "I'll take Lily on the broom now and you three sneak out, ok?" They nodded as James and Lily got onto the broom. As the two soared off into the night the others watched enviously.

It took a while for Sirius, Remus and Peter to reach the stadium, and James and Lily had spent the time seeing what tricks they could do with two people on a broom. Sirius looked up in awe. 

"Why didn't you tell us you had a broom, Jamsie?"

"Not allowed, remember? And I forgot, to be honest." Sirius and Remus tittered before calling, "Let us have a go!" James landed and they got on. 

"You going to have a go, Peter?" Lily asked five minutes later. 

"Can't fly, can I?" he replied quietly. 

"We'll teach you!" James cried excitedly. Sirius and Remus landed and they proceeded to teach Peter, so that when they were finished he could fly, even if he didn't like it very much. "I know!" Sirius exclaimed suddenly. The others winced, waiting for one of his crazy ideas. "Lets see how many of us can fly the broom at once!" 

The others grinned. James got on the front, followed by Lily, then Sirius then Remus. Peter refused flatly and hid his head in his hands. The broom took off; it didn't get very high but it still flew. They were whooping and screaming from about 10 feet up when the boys thought it would be clever to let go. Within moments they were in a pile on the floor and Lily was laughing hysterically on the broom. 

"Quick, Peter!" She flew down and pulled him onto the broom before waving to the three confused boys. "Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! See you later!" Lily shrieked as the broom flew towards the castle. Lily and Peter laughing madly.

"I'll KILL you, Lily!" James roared after the retreating broom. 


	8. Christmas Day

Chapter 8: Christmas Day

Chapter 8: Christmas Day

When Sirius woke up he couldn't work out where he was. It was definitely too uncomfortable to be his bed, either at school or at home, and he was very hungry, a feeling he didn't like. Blearily he opened his eyes.

"Why am I in the common room?" he thought to himself. Then the night before came back to him, and he assumed they must have been too tired to go up to bed. He could see Remus, still sleeping sweetly, in the chair opposite, and Peter curled up on the floor. 

"I'm hungry!" Sirius said loudly. 

"Wha-at?" Remus said sleepily. 

"What time is it, Remie?" 

"11 o'clock."

"My god! No wonder I'm so hungry!" Sirius wailed.

"So hungry that you haven't even noticed our darling friends?" Remus grinned evilly, indicating the chair next to Sirius, who turned and then matched Remus' grin with one of his own. 

"Camera?" said Remus

"I think so." 

Suddenly very awake, the two boys darted up to the common room, grabbed their cameras and tip toed back down again.

By the time they got back to the common room Peter was awake. "I woke up earlier," he said, "but you were so fast asleep I couldn't wake you and I fell asleep again."

"Sshhhh!" Sirius scolded. "You'll wake them up."

Lily and James were lying asleep in the same chair, curled up together, identical happy smiles on their faces. Sirius grinned gain at the horror the photos would cause, then both boys clicked their cameras and the pictures were taken. 

"Make a cute couple, don't they?" Sirius said evilly.

"Thought you knew that?" Remus asked in surprise. "You're always teasing them."

"That's just 'cos I know they don't like it! I never really thought about it 'til now."

"I'll wake them up." Remus said. "LILY! JAMES! WAKE UP!" he yelled. Lily murmured something then opened her eyes. 

"AGGGHHHH!" she screamed. Sirius and Remus laughed. Lily jumped up and shook James awake. 

"What?" he asked groggily. 

"Kill them!" she replied. "They've got pictures!"

"Of what?" James was confused. It really was too early in the morning. 

"We were all curled up together and they got pictures!" Lily shrieked. 

"AGGHH! With you?"

"Get them!" Lily and James dived for Sirius and Remus, while Peter scrambled away. 

And so Christmas Day started with play fighting. 

****************************

Sirius shot down to the Great Hall, bumping into people on the way, including Professor McGonagall who shouted angrily after him. 

"BLACK!" she yelled. "DETENTION!" Sirius was already out of earshot. 

His only thought was food. He needed food. He was desperate for food. He hadn't eaten in over twelve hours and he needed food. He flew into the Hall and didn't even bother to sit down before stuffing his face with food. 

Minutes later Remus and Peter entered, laughing at the scene before them. Sirius was eating so fast he could barely stop to breathe, whilst Professor Dumbledore was bellowing "Excellent, Sirius, excellent. The chefs will take it as a great compliment!" from the teacher's table, looking highly amused. The two new arrivals sat down, and tucked in. 

But something was missing, thought Remus. Where were James and Lily? They were just as hungry as Sirius and it was unlike them to be late for a meal. Just as he was getting really worried, the doors opened they walked in, miraculously not arguing. 

"Mr Potter, Miss Evans, so glad you've joined us!" Dumbledore beamed, without the slightest trace of sarcasm in his voice. They beamed back. "I hope you are having a good day?" 

"Excellent, Professor!" they chirruped together. "The same to you!" They sat down and started eating, as Professor Dumbledore turned to Professor Dunworthy, the Deputy Head and their own Head of House. 

"Watch those two," Dumbledore murmured. "They're up to something." Dunworthy smiled back; he couldn't help but be amused at the fives pranks and he knew Dumbledore was too. "Ok." He whispered.

The meal progressed with happy chatter, loud explosions and laughter. To the boys' delight, Lily won her own set of Wizard Chess Pieces, while Remus won a kitten, both from Wizard Crackers. "Hello Toots!" Remus cooed at the kitten while the others sniggered. 

The clock struck two. Everybody had been eating for an hour, and Dumbledore was just beginning to think he had been wrong about Lily and James when the entire hall burst into laughter. Looking around for its cause, he saw Professor Dunworthy fall off his chair with laughter and McGonagall wiping her streaming eyes. His gaze flickered to the Gryffindor table.

What he saw there made him choke. That was the most advanced piece of magic he had ever seen first years perform! Remus Lupin and Sirius Black stood face to face, screaming at each other. Each was recognisable by their hair only. Remus' face had been transfigured to look like that of Severus Snape, and Sirius was now a dead ringer for Argus Filch, the caretaker. If that wasn't bad enough, neither was aware that their own faces had changed, and they were shouting too loudly about Dark Magic for anyone to tell them. Lily and James were backing slowly towards the doors and Dumbledore couldn't help it. His serious face cracked and soon he was laughing just as hard as everyone else. 

Dunworthy was the first to control himself, and as they boys' Head of House, it was his duty to sort it out. He pulled himself up off the floor and poured himself a whisky, which he downed in one gulp. Still fighting the urge to laugh, he stumbled to the two hysterical boys and put a Silencing Charm on them. They blinked and shut their mouths, whilst Dunworthy conjured up two mirrors. The rest of the school, especially the Slytherins, were still hysterical. When Remus and Sirius saw their own faces they both looked furious. This made them look even funnier and the school laughed even louder. By this time there was no sign of Lily and James at all, Dunworthy saw to his relief. He removed the silencing charm and the two boys yelled, as one, "Lily! James! I'll bloody kill them!" 

Dunworthy then attempted to reverse the spell, which was incredibly difficult, as he had no idea which spell had been used. It wasn't Polyjuice Potion, Sirius still had jet-black hair and Remus' was still dark blonde. He was baffled. He couldn't reverse the spell. 

Dumbledore appeared beside him, red faced and grinning, but otherwise in control of himself. "Any idea what they used?"

"No," Dunworthy said, "I think its something the little buggers thought up themselves."

At this Peter spoke up. "Professor, I swear I didn't know what it was!"

"Oh Peter, what it is?" Dumbledore replied calmly. 

"They gave me a note." Peter's hand trembled as he held it out. Dumbledore unfolded it and grinned. It said: 

"It wears off after two hours.

Don't tell them this, _please!_

They were mean to us!" 

He handed the note to Dunworthy, who also grinned. "There's nothing we can do," Dumbledore said heavily. "The note just says it wears off eventually." Scowling, the two boys walked from the hall, while the Professors let out their laughter again. 

***********************

Of course Remus and James went to try and find their friends, but Lily and James had hidden themselves so well that it was only two hours later, when the faces had finally worn off, they managed to find them. 

Lily and James had hidden themselves up a tree. Sirius and Remus had walked straight past and only realised the two conspirators were above them when they were pelted from behind with snowballs. Lily and James had jumped down out of the tree, and they had a furiously happy snow fight. 

Supper was even better than lunch, certainly in the opinion of Remus' cat Toots, who ate James' new mice. Again, they were full and sleepy and didn't even make it into the tower. They went to the Secret Room just to get a book Lily wanted, but all fell asleep seconds later on the same bed to end a very happy Christmas. 


	9. Sirius' Secret

Chapter 9: Sirius' Secret

Chapter 9: Sirius' Secret

Time passed, and before anyone knew it spring had come to Hogwarts. Lily was delighted. It was to her a home, a place away from Petunia who had behaved very badly towards her during the Easter holidays. Her friends had wanted to take their revenge on her, but Lily had warned them not to. 

The animosity between them and Severus Snape was worse than ever before. They pretended innocence, but everyone knew it was of the tricks the five played on him, especially the irreversible spells. They used him (and McGonagall) as their guinea pigs. And, try as he might, Snape could never get revenge.

Or that's what they thought. They weren't to know what Snape had been planning. With his second-year friends, Lucius Malfoy and his devoted followers Crabbe and Goyle, and his own friends Herman Nott and Mervyn Lestrange, Snape had a brilliant plan. It couldn't fail. They were Slytherins, and fair play meant nothing to them, so they would do anything to get what they wanted. Snape began to put his plan into action, waiting for the right time to finally act with the patience that made him a great potion brewer. The one to suffer the most would be his hated cousin.

*********************************

"Don't you find Snape is being even more annoying than usual these days?" Sirius asked one balmy evening in late May. The five friends were sprawled out on the grass in front of the lake, half-heartedly attempting to do some homework that had been due in two weeks ago. 

"Maybe he wants more pranks played on him?" James suggested, biting his lip over the Charms work he was doing. 

"Maybe we're just bored so we notice it more," Lily said, absently trying her Sneezing Charm on James. 

"Atishoo, atishoo, atishoo," sneezed James. This went on for about ten minutes. "You – atishoo – didn't- atishoo – need – atishoo - to - atishoo – try – atishoo – that – atishoo – you – atishoo – knew – atishoo – you – atishoo – knew – atishoo – you – atishoo – could – atishoo – do – atishoo – it – atishoo – you ­– atishoo – bitch – ATISHOO!" With that one last sneeze James had finished and gradually his eyes stopped watering and his face went back to its normal colour. 

When he was back to normal, he winked at Sirius. "That's it, Lily. In the lake!" Before she knew it Sirius had seized her feet and James her arms and they carried her, shrieking happily, towards the lake. 

"1…" they swung her, "2…" they swung her further, "3!" they let go. But Lily wasn't stupid, and she grabbed onto James as she flew past, pulling him in with her. Seconds later Remus had sneaked up behind Sirius and pushed him in too, and James grabbed Remus by the leg and he fell in with a splash. Peter took a great run up and jumped, flying in over their heads. He might be afraid of boats, but swimming was one of the few things he could do well. 

They shrieked and splashed, having a great water fight, and didn't even notice McGonagall come towards the lake. She cleared her throat loudly. 

"Oh hi, Minnie!" they chorused. Minnie frowned.

"Don't call me that." 

"Ok, Minnie, we won't."

"You shouldn't be in the water. Detention."

"But Minnie," they said together,

"Its not against the school rules," James continued. 

"We checked!" grinned Sirius. 

Minnie looked flustered. "But…." 

"We checked." They interrupted firmly. Minnie was annoyed. It was just like them check the school rules, never obey them, and then catch her out the one time she was wrong. "Very well." She snapped. "But make sure you dry off properly."

"Yes Minnie!"

She turned her back. SPLASH! The five had splashed her. When she looked back they were all smiling innocently. She turned back to the school again. SPLASH! Minnie chose to ignore it. One argument with the five was enough for one day; all the teachers were in agreement about that. As she walked off they started her water fight again.

***********************************

As they walked back towards the Great Hall that evening, five feet, with perfect timing, appeared in front of each of the friends. "AGHH!" they yelled in unison. From the floor they looked up at the grinning faces of Snape, Nott, Lestrange, Crabbe and Goyle, and Malfoy, who stood up. "Hello children," Malfoy sneered, "Did you have a nice trip?"

"Yes thank you, Malfoy," Lily sneered back. "Why? Do you want one too?" Malfoy involuntarily took a step backwards, then seemed to give himself a mental shake as he stepped forward again to tower over Lily, who hurriedly scrambled to her feet. She felt so self-conscious, as if everyone was looking at her. Every nerve in her body was tingling in anticipation for the coming fight. Malfoy's voice snapped her out of her reverie. 

"I bet," Malfoy said, turning slightly to Snape, "That Black hasn't told his friends his little family secret." Snape's smirk grew even wider, and Lily thought he looked weird; no Gryffindor had ever seen Snape smile. 

"Maybe I should tell them?" Snape suggested. Maybe you should, Lily thought, then we could throw it back in your face. "Shall I, Cousin Sirius?" Snape asked.

"Stop pussyfooting around, Snape," James snapped. "If you're going to tell us a fairy story tell it quick."

"If you're so desperate then I will. Did you know that Black is related to the second in command of the greatest Dark Wizard this century, Grindlewald?" Lily and James exchanged puzzled looks, whilst Peter moved even further behind Remus. Sirius heaved a great sigh. 

"Explain." Lily and James said, as one. 

"Well, Sirius' great-aunt Mirelda wanted to marry my great-grandfather Snape. Her tyrant of a father, another Sirius, wouldn't let her. She did anyway, they eloped together. They lived together happily-"

"Delving into the Dark Arts," Sirius interrupted,

"Because they were very much in love." Snape continued as if he hadn't heard Sirius' interruption. "The Blacks cut off all connection with Mirelda and never even contacted her son, their own blood relative. That was my father."

"Yes, lovely family skeletons, Snape, but I don't see what this has to do with Sirius," Lily said impatiently. 

"Well, his father and my father are first cousins. Very close relatives, you see. And my father," his voice dropped, "was Grindlewald's second in command. If the Dark Art's are in my blood, they're in his as well."

"And another warning," Malfoy's voice dropped even lower than Snape's had, "the Dark Arts might be defeated temporarily, but they _always _rise again. One day soon, they're going to rise so high that they wont be defeatable. Not even by the likes of your precious Dumbledore."

The four friends stared at him in disbelief, and Peter even stuck his head around Remus. "Are you saying that you support the Dark Side, Malfoy?" James asked, "Just for future reference."

"Don't start with me, Potter, people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."

"WHAT!" James shrieked, "There has NEVER been a Potter involved with the Dark Side!"

"There's things about his parents I could tell you that would make your hair curl. Their personal habits, you know." James blanched. His father was very high up in the Ministry and did not need the bad press rumours could bring, very they were true or not. 

"I've had enough of this shit," Lily said suddenly. "These are my friends, Malfoy, and nothing you say will make any of us turn against another." With that, she spun around and marched towards the Great Hall and the Gryffindor Table, quickly followed by the four boys. 

"That true, Siri?" she asked when they had sat down.

"Yeah," Sirius replied, "But that was the Snape version of events, not the real one."

"'Cos we just wanted to say," James continued, looking at Lily, "That it doesn't matter. Snape can say whatever he likes; you'll always be our friend." Lily nodded in agreement.

Not for the first time, Remus wondered how they did that. James and Lily hardly ever had a civil conversation, yet at times like this they could seemingly talk out of each other's mouths.

Sirius, meanwhile, was looking touched at their words. "Thanks," he said, "I thought you'd feel that way, but it's still nice to hear you say it."

I wonder if they would feel that way abut my secret? Remus thought, then promptly forgot about it as dinner was served. 


	10. The Fight

Chapter 10: The Fight

Author's note: I dislike this chapter. I don't know where it came from, and I don't like it. So there. Anyway, thanks to anyone who has reviewed, it makes me so very happy, (you all know I mean hyper) and I'm sorry if I have mucked up with the chaptering, because I very cleverly got them wrong in the first place, let alone when I have been typing them up.And, yes, I do know that there has been a weeks (at least, I cant quite remember, gap), but I've been on holiday, writing more. So stop complaining.

Emilily

Disclaimer: all characters and place belong to JK Rowling, the plot and anything you don't recognise belongs to me. 

Chapter 10: The Fight

James and Remus were playing wizard chess and Lily was helping Peter with his homework one balmy May evening. Sirius had disappeared long before in search of the food they had stashed in their secret room, and even though he had been gone over an hour they weren't worried; he had probably fallen asleep there, or been hauled in for questioning about any of the numerous things they had been involved with recently, like booby-trapping Headley's cauldron. The common room was quiet; most people were either studying for their exams or respecting the need of others. In fact, James and Remus were the loudest there, as they were having an argument about whether James' Queen was just being rude because she was losing or not. It was just another evening in Gryffindor Tower. 

BANG! The portrait hole suddenly slammed back on its hinges and Sirius Black staggered in. the entire common room looked at the hole and gasped in shock. 

Sirius had blood streaming down his face from three cuts, one above and one below his eye and one on his lip. He looked like he could barely stand up and only managed to struggle over to his horrified friends before collapsing in front of Lily. 

"Siri, Siri, what happened?" Lily crooned, pulling his head up. 

"What the hell do you think you're looking at!" James yelled at the rest of the room, who quickly turned back to their occupations. 

Lily was using a corner of her robe to mop the blood off Sirius' face whilst she kept talking softly to him. "It's ok, Siri," she was saying, "We'll make it all better. Don't worry about what happened, just relax and it'll all get better." Sirius still hadn't said a word.

"Remus, go and get tissue and soak it in cold water for me. Peter, go and open the doors. James, help me get Sirius to your dormitory."

Remus and Peter raced off, while James and Lily each put an arm around and, half carrying him, helped him up the stairs to the dormitory, where they laid him back on his bed. Sirius had still not made a sound. 

Remus arrived with the tissue and Lily began to wipe the blood off Sirius properly. "Listen, Siri," James began, "you're going to have to tell us what happened, otherwise we can't do anything about it." Sirius just stared blankly ahead. 

"Sirius Black, do you hurt anywhere other than your face? You'd better answer me, or we'll have to strip you to find out." Lily said imperiously. 

"Everywhere," Sirius said eventually, "I hurt everywhere." Lily and James exchanged glances. What had happened? 

"Siri," Remus gave it a try, "does anywhere hurt in particular? Like it might be broken?"

"My tummy hurts. They kept hitting me there." Sirius said absently. 

"Who?" four voices asked at once, although they already new the answer. Sirius took a deep breath, and then winced as it hurt him. 

"Snape," he said bitterly, "Snape, Avery, Nott, Crabbe and Goyle and Malfoy!" he almost spat the last word. He was too preoccupied with his pain to notice his friends' reaction, but Peter saw it:the looks of fury and determination that showed on their faces. 

"Siri, if you just tell us exactly what happened, then you can rest," said Lily softly, her voice belying how fierce she looked. Sirius had been her first friend at Hogwarts, someone she had trusted almost instantly, and it was tearing her apart to see him so hurt. "Please, Siri!" James pleaded. 

"I was walking along towards our room when they appeared behind me and in front of me. They'd been waiting for me. And Snape stepped up and said: 'Hello Cousin Sirius. How thoughtful of you to act as bait so that we can torment you and your friends.' Then they all started hitting me and they kept saying horrible things about you all so that I'd fight back, then they'd hit me harder." Sirius came to a halt, still staring ahead. Impulsively, Lily reached out and gave him a hug, and suddenly Sirius' calm façade broke and he burst into tears, clinging to Lily. The look on James' face got worse, if that was possible, because _no one_ should make Sirius cry. Sirius was so brave that he must have been feeling really terrible to cry like that. And even Lily herself looked close to tears, pity and anger shining from her eyes. 

When he stopped crying, Lily made Sirius lie down in bed and pulled the covers up around him, telling him to go to sleep. Within seconds he had drifted off, to their relief. When Lily looked up from the bed, James just said tersely: "Our room, now."

******************************

Arriving there twenty minutes later, after having escaped all the questions in the common room, the four looked at each other. "They'll pay for this!" Lily and James exclaimed together. 

"What can we do?" Peter asked timidly, in the kind of voice that suggested it was hopeless. Remus cringed. 

"Kill them," was the reply from both. 

"Do the same as they did to Sirius," James continued,

"Only worse," Lily added. Neither of them now wore their ever-present grins. They were deadly serious. 

"Listen, you two," Remus began quietly. Both turned ice-cold glares on him. 

"Yes?" they said.

"Wouldn't it be better to tell Dumbledore so he can deal with it? It's pretty serious."

"No," said Lily flatly. 

"How are we going to deal with six boys, two of them huge second years?" Remus tried again. 

"So we turn them over to Headley, who gives them a detention, then fifty points as soon as Dumbledore's out of the room?" James exclaimed bitterly. 

"So you're going to do exactly what they want?"

"Yes."

Remus sighed. Their minds were made up, and he was in on it. He couldn't just leave them to get the crap kicked out of them. "Well, I suppose I'm in then." He said heavily. "But lets sleep on it first, ok?"

They agreed easily. It was too late to do anything tonight. Remus just hoped they would feel differently in the morning. They went back to the dormitory to bed, Lily slipping in next to the sleeping Sirius. 

***********************************

Sleep didn't make Lily and James think again about getting their revenge, as Remus had hoped it would. Their decision had not been made whilst in a mad rage, but in ice-calm fury, and they had no intention of changing their minds. It didn't help that Remus know they were right about Headly, and they didn't even listen when Remus implored them to think about Peter, who was too small to be involved in a fight like this. 

Having left Sirius in bed, the two set off for the Great Hall, looking grim. Remus tagged along behind, desperately trying to find reasons to make them think again, but he came up with nothing. 

They ate breakfast in a stony silence. Peter was rocking, terribly scared of the ordeal to come, but the other three showed no sign of the horrendous nerves they felt. They didn't intend to get caught, but if they did…they'd be expelled for sure. All three resolutely put the thought out of their minds. 

When breakfast was over, they got up and followed the group of Slytherins from the Hall. It was Sunday morning, so there were very few people around, and nobody noticed the strange route they took. 

"Look," James said suddenly, startling them all. "Peter, go back and look after Siri, ok? This wasn't your idea and you shouldn't be involved with it."

To his credit, Peter refused. "No." he said firmly. "I'm Siri's friend too." Remus was glad they hadn't said the same thing to him; they didn't protect him like they did Peter, they didn't baby him. He was equal with Lily, James and Sirius, and he had to take the consequences. 

They continued to follow the six Slytherin's until they came to a deserted and little used corridor, which they hoped was not too deep in Slytherin territory. Lily and Remus doubled around to the back of it, trapping their enemies, before James called out. 

"Snape! You greasy haired little git!" he yelled. Snape spun around. 

"Yes?" he smirked. 

"I want you to know that what you did to Sirius was unacceptable and you're not going to get away with it."

"Oh yes?" sneered Malfoy. "You're going to beat us up, are you?" 

"Yes." James answered calmly. 

"You and what army?" asked Lestrange. 

"Us, you ape-like idiot," Lily said, stepping out behind them with Remus. The six boys laughed. "Get them," Malfoy gestured, "They're only Gryffindor's, they can't hurt you." Crabbe and Nott jumped at James and Peter, while Lestrange and Goyle rushed towards Lily and Remus. The next few seconds passed as a blur, but soon lily and James were diving for a very surprised Snape and Malfoy. They were so furious that the first two to confront them were now lying groggily on the floor. 


	11. Consequences

Chapter 11: Consequences

Chapter 11: Consequences

Authors Note: I know that I haven't put disclaimers on all the chapters of this story, so here goes:

Disclaimer: All recognisable characters in all the chapters of this story always have and always will belong to J.K. Rowling, and are trademarked by Warner Bros and a lot of other people, including Mattel. I own anyone you don't recognise in all chapters of the story, such as Professors Hadley and Dunworthy, and Esmerelda and Orion Black, David and Luke Potter and of course Toots, the cat.Now for the story!

"At least we got them back." James said gloomily.

"They didn't bloody need those stretchers. They weren't _that _injured!" Lily complained bitterly. 

They were standing outside the gargoyle, as instructed, and the threat of the consequences was weighing them all down. Remus felt like saying 'I told you so', but he knew it wouldn't help and he refrained. But what was the point anyway? They were going to be expelled. After he had thought he could never come to Hogwarts he was going to be expelled in his first year.

Headley suddenly appeared from around a corner. She walked straight up to the gargoyle, ignoring them, and said clearly: "Mars Bars."

The gargoyle sprang aside, revealing a moving staircase. Headley stepped on to it, then beckoned to them. They travelled up to Dumbledore's office in silence. Then a door opened in front of them. 

Headley entered to see the Headmaster sitting at his desk. "Professor!" he began jovially, but he stopped when he saw the look on the woman's face. "What has happened?" he asked seriously.

"These four…students," Headly spat out the word as though it was distasteful, "assaulted six members of my house without provocation. Snape, Malfoy, Avery, Nott, Crabbe and Goyle on their way to the library when they were attacked, out of the blue, and they say they can think of no reason why. They have always been perfectly civil to the Gryffindors!" hearing this, James and Lily stepped forward in disbelief.

"Wait." Dumbledore said heavily. He indicated that Professor Headley should sit down, then conjured four more chairs for the students. 

Dumbledore looked at them each closely, noting the fury of James and Lily, the terror on Peter's face and the realisation beginning to dawn on Remus' face. "Remus, tell me what happened." Headley looked enraged that they should be given a chance to defend themselves.

"Well, it all started like this," Remus told the tale of the previous night, then added at the end, "And as for always being civil to Gryffindors, that's a load of rubbish. Apart from beating up Sirius, they called Lily a mudblood, tried to split us up by telling Sirius' family secrets, then when that didn't work, they told us we were first in line if ever a Dark Wizard rose again!" Dumbledore frowned. 

"You can't believe them, Dumbledore!" Headley shrieked.

"I need to hear all sides of the story before I pass any judgement, Erica," he replied calmly. "Peter, would you go and fetch Sirius for me, and Professor, would you get Professor Dunworthy?" They left the room and Dumbledore turned to the remaining three. He looked very sad. 

"I am very ashamed of you," he said, "Whatever the real story is here, you obviously initiated the fight this morning."

"Honestly, Professor, they attacked us first!" Lily exclaimed. 

"But you provoked it, Lily." Lily looked cowed. "And, to be honest with you, I understand your anger. But you didn't do the sensible thing and come to me, or Professor Dunworthy, you chose to deal with it yourselves and get into a lot of trouble. What you did, confronting six people, three of them older than you, might have been very brave, but it was also incredibly stupid. However, what I feel most strongly about is the way you treated Peter. He is supposed to be your friend, and you know how easily he is led by you, yet you still embarked on a course of action that would get him into trouble." Dumbledore was pleased to see the three looking ashamed. "I thought you had more compassion, and more sense."

They felt terrible. They were now sure they were going to be expelled, and they felt bad about Peter. They were feeling very sorry for themselves when Dunworthy and Headley strode in. 

"What's your take on things, Dumbledore?" Dunworthy asked. Headley looked furious that he hadn't accepted her version of events. 

"We will wait until Mr Black gets here," Dumbledore replied. The room was silent until Peter entered with a very battered and exhausted looking Sirius. "Well, I see that that part of the story is true," Dumbledore said, after taking a look at Sirius. 

"They probably had a fight amongst themselves and decided to pin it on my innocent students!" Dunworthy began to cough, but Dumbledore ignored her. 

"Now all that is left to decide is your punishments…" he said. 


	12. Good Little Children

Chapter 12: Good Little Children

Chapter 12: Good Little Children

"What punishment have you given your brother?" Malfoy stopped to ask the Head Boy in the Charms corridor. David glowered at him. He didn't particularly like Slytherins, although he tried to act fairly. 

"Why should I have punished him?" 

"You don't know?" Malfoy crowed.

"Know what?" David was really annoyed now. 

"About what your baby brother and his friendies did yesterday?" 

"I would have thought it was quite obvious that I don't. Now either tell me or be on your way."

Lucius pretended to cower under David's glare. "Oh, well, they beat us up. For no apparent reason. I think that should get them expelled, don't you?" Having done what he intended to do, Malfoy walked off. David stared after him, then hurried to the Gryffindor common room. 

Through sheer luck, he had no idea what most of the school was buzzing about. He, Esmerelda, Luke, Orion and many of their friends had been out of the room during Sirius' dramatic entrance two days before, and no one had seen any of the friends since breakfast the day before, as they had spent the night hidden in their secret room. 

As he hurried towards the Gryffindor common room, he felt the hereditary Potter rage, which was rare but terrible, building up. How could James do something so stupid? Malfoy was right, they should have been expelled. He didn't stop to consider that Malfoy might not have not have told the whole story. 

He crashed into the common room, spotted his brother with his group of friends and walked straight towards them. Instead of shouting he spoke quietly. 

"How could you, James? How could you do something so awful?" They looked up, startled, then realized with a rush that David must know of the fight. 

"Listen, Dave-" James began.

"No! I wont listen. You listen to me. All of you went far beyond the bounds of the acceptable. An unprovoked attack on the Slytherins! I mean, anybody else would be bad enough, but the Slytherins? They're going to come down on you doubly as hard for that!" he paused to draw breath and James tried again. 

"That's not-"

"I will NOT listen!" David exploded.

Suddenly, Lily was on her feet. "Yes you will!" she shrieked. "You can't make judgements 'til you've heard the whole story!" David was so shocked that by the idea of a first year daring to shout at him, the Head Boy, that he actually shut up. 

"We were _not_ unprovoked. They attacked Sirius. Just Sirius, six on one. So obviously we were angry." Lily continued. "And we figured that Headley wouldn't punish them so we did it ourselves. And we were right," she finished bitterly. 

"What punishment did you get?" Luke Potter asked sympathetically. 

"Four detention," James answered angrily. "Two hard ones, cleaning the whole hall and preparing a meal in the kitchens, one easy one, cleaning Dumbledore's suite, and one horrible one that Headley picked. Even Dumbledore said it was unfair, and Dunworthy's not speaking to her, but they couldn't back out of the deal."

"What?" Luke said expectantly.

"Helping the Slytherin team practice Quidditch. On the school brooms." There was an empathetic silence. It really was a horrible detention: the Slytherin – Gryffindor Championship decider was played in a fortnight, and they would be helping their enemies win. Not only that; the Slytherins would doubtlessly use them as Beater practice and the school brooms were notoriously slow. No one doubted they would come back badly bruised, if not worse. 

"And what did the Slytherins get?" Orion Black asked tightly. 

"Three detentions each, picked by Headley, and they lost 10 points each. We lost 20 each."

"How'd they manage that!" Esmerelda exploded. "They attacked Siri!"

"Dumbledore had to a deal not to get us expelled, 'cos Headley said we should have gone straight to a teacher, and she wouldn't back down," Remus explained dully. 

"At least this way we got them back. Anyone seen Malfoy's face?" James said, but he couldn't make himself or his friends feel better. The whole of Gryffindor House was upset, even those that didn't like the first year gang, and it was because of one reason: It Wasn't Fair!

*********************************

What they hadn't told the other Gryffindors was they last condition: they were on parole until the end of term, two months away. One major step out of line and it was the end of their wizarding careers.Their only option was to become Good Little Children; to act as innocent and law-abiding as the rest of the still over-awed first years. As they had never naturally been like this they found it quite hard. The teachers noticed no major changes: homework was still never in on time, but at most it was a couple of days late; tricks were still played, but they were muted, easily reversible things, not like the ingenious ones they had thought up before; and they seemed to go out of their way to avoid fights with the Slytherins, who provoked them incessantly now they new it was safe. However, these were the only times when watchers got a fleeting view of the real friends, betrayed by a slight flash in Lily's eyes, a drawn look on Remus' face as he placed a hand on a tensed up James' arm, Sirius' fists clenched by his side, and even a determined setting of Peter's mouth before they all turned away, resisting the temptation. They had no intention of getting expelled now for a seemingly minor offence.This hadn't stopped them from vowing revenge next year. 

The detentions were the most difficult of the many they had had to do so far, and they had many. Cleaning the great hall was easier than they had expected, as the teachers had taken pity on them and cleaned it partially by magic before they let them start. The supposedly 'easy' task, cleaning Dumbledore's suite, had been unbelievably long and difficult, but it was interesting enough to make up for that.

When they had entered the first of Dumbledore's rooms, a sitting room, they had been astounded at the mess. It looked like Dumbledore had not cleaned for several years, but this was impossible, as he had only moved in that year upon becoming Headmaster, so he had only been living there for a few months. He had led them in, instructed them on a few private things not to touch, then left them, open mouthed, to start. They had cleaned for an entire Sunday, but they honestly didn't mind as Dumbledore had so many interesting things in his room, and he had returned in the afternoon. They were able to ask him what everything was, and a hundred other questions besides. Later they had agreed that they had learned more, and more advanced, magic in that one afternoon than the rest of the school year.

The kitchen detention was utterly hilarious. Before the evening meal the Saturday after the fight, they had had to direct the House Elves, who had been ordered to do nothing unless they were told, to in the making of the meal, as they obviously could not prepare it all themselves. But they had to set and clean away the tables and do the washing up all by themselves, the 'Muggle Way' as James complained bitterly. 

"I bet you never had to do any washing up in your life, James," Lily had accused. 

"Nope," James had grinned. 

"Spoilt little rich kid!" Lily sneered, starting off one of their infamous arguments, which ended up in a soap fight. It was fun, even if they did have to clean it up afterwards.

Sirius had done all the detentions with them, as he had said that if it had been one of them attacked he would have done exactly the same thing. But they had to throw him out of this detention, as he kept eating the food and scaring the House Elves. Even so, he snuck back in after the meal and kept playing tricks on his diligently working friends.

When Sirius covered a pile full of James' newly washed plates with slime, James finally snapped. "OUT!" he yelled, "OR I'LL TELL HEADLEY YOU ATTACKED SNAPEY FIRST!" The House Elves cowered in the corners as Sirius backed out of the kitchen, but not before he had turned James' robes pink. But they still felt that the detentions so far had been worth it, because they now knew where and how the kitchens were hidden, meaning they could have food whenever they wanted it. 

However, their last detention was as abominable as they expected. Sirius joined them in this as well, despite their protests. The Slytherin's did use them as Beater practice, taunting them the whole time. And as the school brooms were so much slower than newer brooms, they all came back with bruises, except James, who broke his leg as well as getting bruised. 

He fell to the floor, crying out in pain, while the Slytherin team laughed maliciously. His friends flew to his side, and Remus, taking one look at the injury, flew of to the castle on his infuriatingly slow broom to get Madame Pomfrey. While the others were waiting, Lily and Sirius had to keep themselves focused on James to stop themselves from killing the still-laughing Slytherins, and it seemed like hours before Madame Pomfrey arrived. She took all five bruised and battered and slightly hysterical Gryffindors up to the Hospital Wing, and even though she was new that year and only an assistant, mended James' leg within seconds. She then took one look at the others and put them all off to bed, in the Hospital Wing, at only seven o'clock. When she came back ten minutes later with warm milk, they were all fast asleep, exhausted from the strain of being so good. 


	13. Preparations

Disclaimer: I own nothing, I invented none of the characters, except Luke, Orion, Esmerelda, David, Headley and anyone else yo

Disclaimer: I own nothing, I invented none of the characters, except Luke, Orion, Esmerelda, David, Headley and anyone else you don't recognise. I did, however, invent the plot, so don't steal it. I also intend to make no money out of this story, because if I did, I wouldn't be posting it here, would I? Anyhoodle, enjoy!

Chapter 13: Preparations

It was a month and a half since the Great Fight that had nearly gotten them expelled, and only a week until the end of the school year. Every occupant of Hogwarts was in high spirits: students, teachers, ghosts and even infamously bad-tempered caretakers. But nobody was more excited and keyed up than five first years who were forced to hide it.

"I'm sick of being good!" Lily exclaimed petulantly one Sunday evening. "It means we have to be boring like the rest of the school!" James and Sirius nodded in agreement: they all now knew how boring being good was.

"Why don't we play an end of term prank?" James suggested excitedly, "I'm sure Dumbledore wont expel us as long as its harmless." His friend's faces lit up with excitement at the thought of a _really good _prank, not the watered down rubbish they had been pulling recently. 

"What about something on the teachers? Dumbledore, Dunworthy and McGonagall all have a good sense of humour, so does Flitwick, and they're the ones that matter." Lily said.

"What's your idea then, then, Little Miss Clever?" James asked.

"I don't have one yet," Lily said a little sheepishly. They all thought hard, but Sirius couldn't sit still for long and was soon pacing up and down. "I have it!" he yelled suddenly.

"What?" the others asked eagerly.

"Got you!" Sirius laughed. They glared at him, then forced their minds to think again.

"I think I have something," Peter said tremulously.

"What?" they asked, more cautiously this time. Peter explained his idea.

"Well…" James said. Peter hung on his words. "It's just a basic plan so far, but I'd say… its quite brilliant!" They all giggled conspiratorially, they began devising further details of their plan. 

*********************************

The unfortunate problem with the plan meant that they had to do a lot of research, and this meant that they made another enemy, Madam Pince the Librarian. They weren't exactly the quietest people, even when they were supposed to be working, and she liked to have a quiet library: it gave her credit as a good librarian. So consequently they came to blows and she threw them out. To their disgust, they now had to heave whatever heavy library books they wanted all the way to somewhere else, so naturally they began using their secret room more and more, as it was nearer than the common room. They decided they couldn't keep calling it 'the secret room' as this attracted to much attention, so they decided to call it Kirrin, as the Famous Five were the only Muggle books Remus and James had ever read, and anything wizarding was too well known.

Kirrin was also the logical location to make the potion they needed. For their immensely complex plan to work, they needed hard work, something none of them were good at, and an incredible amount of good luck. For they were planning to make an anti-ageing potion to whisk the teachers back to being their eleven year old selves at the Leaving Feast.

They got even more nervous as the week went on. The potion was very complicated, and even Sirius, a natural potion brewer like all his family, was having trouble. The fact that they had all, even Peter, passed every exam with flying colours did a lot to cheer them up in the middle of the week. Even Headley hadn't been able to fail them, they had done so well. 

School ended on a Saturday morning, so the Leaving Feast started half way through Friday afternoon and continued for several hours. Only Peter slept on the Thursday night, safe in the knowledge that the others would deal with the trickier parts of the plan. Lily drove the girls in her dormitory to distraction with her constant mutterings and soon left to go to Kirrin, where she met the other three boys, and they spent the night in constant vigil around the cauldron. As dawn broke, they were already ladling it into the right amounts for each Professor, although it didn't need to be ready until midday.

****************************

Eight hours later, Sirius sneaked into the kitchen, closely followed by Lily and James. While Sirius was creating endless distraction by asking the House Elves for every kind of food he could think of, (and that was a lot), the other two hurried over to the kitchen versions of the Professor's table and poured in exactly the right amount of potion for each teacher. It had taken a lot of sucking-up to find out how old each teacher was, and many of them had been very scared to find the five naughtiest students suddenly so interested in History of Magic. The only way that they had been able to do it was to ask about events in the year of the Professors birth, and they were still amazed that it had worked on Headley and Malfoy. 

As soon as that part of the plan was carried out, they hurried out, and Sirius had to leave much of his food, which he complained bitterly about, because their alibis rested on them being out of Gryffindor Tower was as little time as possible. They were still congratulating themselves on their alibi: David Potter was playing Remus at chess and they, of course, were spectators. Who was a better alibi than the Head Boy himself?

The next two hours passed slowly. Their nerves were at them, and Remus lost the game spectacularly. David would not hesitate to brag about _that_ game! By the time the feast was ready, they could barley sit still, and they had to force themselves to walk down as normal, or as in Sirius' case, bound ahead. Anything else would have attracted attention to Sirius. As it was, a few people noticed that James and Lily weren't arguing, mainly because both were running over the plan in their heads.

When they reached the Hall, they were surprised to see it decorated in neutral colours. Dumbledore waited until everyone had sat down, then began his speech. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am sure you have noticed the lack of the usual décor in the Hall. It is, of course, because we have a thoroughly gripping Championship race, and we thought we would keep you in suspense a little longer. I will now read the House Points in the order of those with the least points." He paused, and the entire Hall waited with baited breath. 

"In fourth place, with 489 points, Ravenclaw. In third, with 501 points, Hufflepuff." There was polite applause: this had been expected. Dumbledore paused again, letting excitement build. "It was very close between the top two." The Hall collectively glared at him, as he paused yet again, grinning. Many of the teachers were also laughing silently. "But the Quidditch Cup tipped it. In second place, with 569 points, Gryffindor." 

"FUCK!" shouted David Potter, seconds before the Slytherins burst into delighted cheers, the rest of the Hall began to boo, and the Hall itself was suddenly immersed in green and silver, including many decorative snakes. 

"Yes, indeed, Mr Potter, I would imagine you would be feeling like that," Dumbledore laughed. "And for anyone who wishes to know, Slytherin got 601 points." Dumbledore said when the Hall was quiet. "And now, it is the end of the year, a very successful year, and we must do the most appropriate thing: EAT!"

But before anyone could start eating, Orion Black jumped to his feet. "I propose a toast!" he yelled, while the Hall stared dumbstruck. It had taken a lot to persuade Orion to do this without knowing why: 20 Galleons in fact. "To the Professors, the students, a wonderful meal ahead and to the House Elves who cooked it, and even to the Slytherins. Congratulations everyone!" It was worth 20 Galleons just to hear Orion congratulate the Slytherins, the five thought, not even counting what was coming next. 

The Hall raised their glasses and drank as one. 

Authors Note: aren't I a dirty little beep beep beep beep beeping beeper for leaving the story here? Don't worry, anyone who really cares, because the next bit is ready, and I just need to type it up. However, I might post it soon, I might not. I really don't know. Thanks to anyone who reviewed this story, and have a nice day!!!!!!!!!!!


	14. The End of the Year

Disclaimer: I do not own any character here that you recognise, they belong to JK Rowling and I don't intend want to make any

Disclaimer: I do not own any character here that you recognise, they belong to JK Rowling and I don't intend want to make any money off of this. However, anything you don't recognise is mine, and I own that and the plotlines, however weak they may be. Thanks, all.

Chapter 14: The End of Term

Everyone put their glasses down and piled their plates with food. Everyone except James, Remus, Lily and Peter. Sirius might have been nervous, but he could no more not eat than he could voluntarily stop breathing. As the loud noise of hundreds of happy students filled the room, the five looked nervously up at the staff table. Had their plan worked? What they saw made Sirius choke on his Yorkshire pudding. 

The entire faculty were now 11 years old. An auburn haired Albus Dumbledore and a blonde, chubby Dunworthy were chasing a prissy looking Minerva McGonagall around the table. As they young Minnie tripped up over her over sized robes, the two boys jumped on her, pulling her hair and tickling her. Professor Malfoy looked angry at the sight of the three happy Gryffindor ex-teachers, and was holding his wand as though he was about to hex them. Professor Headley was sitting on her chair, looking very blonde and beautiful, with a look that said she would rather be anywhere but here. Professor Flitwick, even tinier than before, was organizing the rest of the teachers into playing a came of 'chase'.

The five friends, hardly able to concentrate because they were laughing so much, turned around to see how the rest of the school were reacting. As more and more students noticed that most of the noise in the Hall was coming from the high table, they turned to see what was going on, before starting to laugh hysterically. Soon the entire Hall was watching, and the young teachers eventually noticed. 

"Why are you all staring at us?" Dunworthy asked.

"Where are all the teachers?" Flitwick said.

"Who cares?" the young Dumbledore replied. "Lets go eat!" the Professors all jumped off the dais and joined their house tables. Dumbledore, Dunworthy and McGonagall all walked over to the Gryffindor Table and sat down next to Peter. "Hello!" Dumbledore said cheerfully. 

"Hello!" the five replied, then introduced themselves. 

"I'm Albus, this Keith and Minnie." Dumbledore replied. 

"How long does the potion last for?" Lily whispered to Sirius.

"About and hour," he replied; "so if we can keep them here for that long, we can see their reaction when they change back!" he grinned.

The meal progressed well, even though the students were a bit wary that they had found their 11-year-old professors sitting next to them. Lily, James, Sirius and Remus found themselves getting on really well with Dumbledore and Dunworthy, who also seemed to have a great liking for practical jokes. 

Exactly an hour after the potion had begun, there were several loud pops and the real Professors reappeared, looking extremely baffled. The students couldn't help it; they burst into laughter, and as the Professor's memories came back, most of them joined in. In fact, the only people in the entire Hall who weren't laughing were Headley and Malfoy, who had a rather large amount of personal dignity and didn't see the funny side at all. Headley also, to their distress, looked like she had a good idea who had pulled the prank.

Dumbledore wiped his streaming eyes and stood up, talking from where he was. "I think you will all agree that the feast was most excellent, and that you have had a little extra…entertainment, shall we say?" he chuckled. "It is now my delight to wish you all a fantastic holiday and remember –" he looked straight at Lily, James and Sirius, "No Magic." The Hall groaned.

*************************

The next afternoon the five sat in the Hogwarts Express looking and feeling very glum. They had been happy enough while travelling, but now, as they neared Kings Cross, they began to realise it was the summer. No school, and for Lily and Sirius, no friends, for over two months. As the train pulled in, the got their trunks down and had the door open before the train was even stopped. On the platform they turned to each other. "Well, this is it," Lily said, "Big summer goodbyes."

"No," James said fiercely, "We've all got owls, we can write, and Lily and Sirius can come visit me!" Both expectant visitors grinned; they weren't looking forward to spending the entire summer with just their families. At least James Remus and Peter lived in the same place. "Ok!" they all agreed happily. 

Suddenly Lily spotted her parents. "Mum!" Dad!" she shrieked. She hugged the boys quickly, then ran to her parents. "Hi! Its good to be home, I've missed you! Guess what we did at the feast…" 

The boys looked after her. Then, as they spotted their own parents, they all said goodbye and left to see their parents. The year was over.

The End

(For now)

Authors Note: for those who have asked, this is a series, and yes, I've already started writing year two, so the next parts will be up as soon as I get them typed up. Of course, that could be a lot longer from now on, as I go back to school on Thursday, dammit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (yeah, that's right, I don't wanna go back. And what?) so anyway, I'll get it up when I can. 


End file.
